Introduction
The value chain is a crucial concept within the health and insurance industry. As the name implies, it is a chain of activities that adds value to the customer. Companies like Cigna Health rely on their value chain to provide customers with the services they need. This essay discusses the steps in the value chain to fulfill the customer requirements from beginning to end, the operational subprocesses, and the metrics that are necessary to monitor.
The significant value chain stages are contacting the customer, planning, underwriting stage, informing the customer, billing, and service step. To improve the value chain, the company should assess the metric and identify the fields that need to be more efficient.
Value Chain Steps
The high-level value chain for Cigna Health begins with the customer. This includes the initial customer contact, either through a phone call or walk-in, as well as identifying the customer’s needs and desires (Dranove & Garthwaite, 2022). This is followed by the planning step, where Cigna Health determines the plan and coverage that best suits the customer’s needs. This then assesses the customer’s risk and the setting of the premiums and deductibles. After this, the customer is informed of the plan and the premiums they will pay (Dranove & Garthwaite, 2022). This is followed by the billing step, where Cigna Health sets up a payment plan that is agreeable to the customer. Finally, the customer is given the coverage and services that they need.
Operational Subprocesses
The operational subprocesses at Cigna Health include customer contact, planning, underwriting, billing, and customer service. At each stage, Cigna Health must ensure that the customer’s needs are met promptly and efficiently. In order to do this, Cigna Health should monitor metrics and carefully select services that respond to customers’ needs and are not easy to find elsewhere (Tardi, 2022). These services should be promoted and priced.
Metric Identification
If Cigna Health is required to make a process within the value chain more effective, it should examine the metrics to determine what needs improvement. The data monitored should include customer satisfaction, response times, the number of customers enrolled, the number of complaints, the number of customers that change or cancel plans (Dranove & Garthwaite, 2022). In addition to the abovementioned, Cigna Health should monitor the accuracy and timeliness of the billing process, as well as the number of claims processed and the number of claims denied.
Process Evaluation
To analyze and assess the process and metrics to reveal if the process is working, an analyst would be required to estimate the current process and identify the areas of improvement. It is vital to review customer feedback to understand factors such as customer satisfaction and preferences (Tardi, 2022). Through these steps, it is possible to determine if the process needs to be improved or if it is already working as expected.
Value Chain Improvement Steps
Once the process and metrics have been analyzed and it is determined that a process within the value chain is not working, Cigna Health can take steps to improve the process. This could include streamlining the customer contact process, increasing the accuracy and timeliness of the billing process, or increasing customer satisfaction by providing additional diagnosis tests or procedures. (Tardi, 2022). Additionally, Cigna Health should review customer complaints and determine if there are any common themes that can be addressed.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the value chain is an essential concept for companies like Cigna Health in order to provide customers with the services they need. This essay discussed the stages of the chain value needed to fit the client’s requirements, the operational subprocesses, and the data that Cigna Health should observe at both the value chain level and subprocess level.
Additionally, this essay analyzed the process and metrics to identify when a process within the value chain is not working and explained what steps Cigna Health could take based on this analysis for value chain improvement.
References
Dranove, D., & Garthwaite, C. (2022). Artificial intelligence, the evolution of the healthcare value chain, and the future of the physician [eBook edition]. National Bureau of Economic Research. Web.
Tardi, C. (2022). Value Chain: Definition, Model, Analysis, and Example. Investopedia. Web.